Listen to U2’s ‘American Soul’ Featuring Kendrick Lamar

U2 are streaming the track “American Soul” from their upcoming album Songs of Experience, featuring Kendrick Lamar. It’s a new version of “XXX,” which they recorded for Lamar’s DAMN. You can listen to the song via the Spotify widget below.

It's the second track they recorded with Lamar for the follow-up to 2014’s Songs of Innocence. “Get Our of Your Own Way” was unveiled along with the details of the new record, which is set for release on Dec. 1 after the band decided to delay its launch while they reconsidered the material.

“I would say the emotional temperature is up about 25 percent,” frontman Bono explained. “There’s a couple of reasons why we delayed Songs of Experience. We nearly lost the European Union, something that has helped keep the peace in our region for nearly 70 years.” He added that he’d included a direct reference to U.S. President Donald Trump in the material, explaining, “It is a little bit of a departure, as I’ve always believed in working across the aisle as an anti-poverty activist. But this isn’t a matter or right or left. There’s a bully in the pulpit and silence is not an option.”

Guitarist the Edgenoted in January that Trump had been a significant influence in the rethink. “We just went, ‘Hold on a second – we’ve got to think about this record and how it relates to what’s going on in the world,’” he said. “Most of it was written in the early part of 2016, and now, as I think you’d agree, the world is a different place.”